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I begin writing this on 15th August, 2020 at my home in Sydney, Australia. But I shouldn’t be here. Not now. I should have been at the DMI International Conference in Mombasa, Kenya. Today would have been the last day of the conference had it been held. It should have been a day to celebrate new friendships and to savour the old; to visit some of the many Deaf schools and churches that DMI has established right across the developing world; to give thanks to God and to cherish all the supporters who have made DMI’s mission so fruitful.
I should have met Alphonsine.
Alphonsine’s interview is without a doubt the most frustrating I have ever had. That’s not because of Alphonsine. She’s delightful. And it’s not because of me. I’m not that much of an old grumblebum yet. It’s the internet connection. I think it was running on morse code. I never got a single question out in one go, and I never got a single answer back without interruption. It usually took multiple attempts at a question and even then I couldn’t be sure that I was catching everything the interpreter was telling me. In the end we gave up and continued the interview by email.
Alphonsine’s story is a hard one to take in. It’s as heartbreaking as anything you’ll ever hear. In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, staggeringly over a million people were slaughtered in a 100 day period. Alphonsine’s mother and two of her three brothers were among them. Within a year, she was separated from her father and brother when, after fleeing to the Congo, the UN escorted the women and girls (only) back to Rwanda. When Alphonsine and her sisters returned to their family home they found it completely destroyed.
Alphonsine has no memory of the genocide itself. Neither though, does she have any memory of her mother and father. She laments never having the chance to play with her mother, eat her cooking or cuddle up in her arms. The genocide took her parents and brothers from her. It took her home, it took her childhood, her safety, her innocence.
Deafness only complicated the hardships in Alphonsine’s life. As a Deaf orphan, she was taken from home to home and from school to school, although her sisters were never far from her. She tells me that she had the hardest imaginable life as a child but she always remained thankful to God simply because she had breath in her lungs. That was her clinging point.
Alphonsine through elementary school, middle school and high school.
How do you cope with such hardship and not allow it to break you? How do you deal with such loss and suffering without becoming consumed by bitterness? I put this to Alphonsine. “It was very hard,” she said, “but in 2016, when I was 23, I was invited to join a healing ministry. There we each got to share our testimonies and to pray for one another. It made a huge difference. It was never going to be an instant panacea, but that’s when the real healing began.”
Despite a turbulent educational path, Alphonsine has excelled in her studies. She spent her elementary school years at a Deaf school, her middle school years in a hearing school, and her high school years in a school which included students with disabilities. There were numerous disruptions along the way but Alphonsine proved to be both clever and persistent and in 2017 she finally earned her place at university.
Enter DMI.
DMI sponsors have enabled Alphonsine to study Tourism and Business at university. This generosity allows her to overcome some serious challenges, including the enormous cost of hiring an interpreter. But it’s not just the financial support. “DMI is my parent,” she tells me. “The financial support is wonderful but DMI also provides direction, care, prayer, faith support and a sense of security – everything a parent should provide and be. I never really had that before. With DMI, I now do.”
Yet Alphonsine has also been under the care of the Immanuel Church for the Deaf Rwanda (ICDR) since she was 11. She has grown to have a strong faith there and was chosen in 2017 to go to the ICDR church in Muhanga for a year for intensive Bible study. She continues to volunteer at her home church in Bible teaching, evangelism to the Deaf, and accounting.
Alphonsine is devoted to her church family.
For someone who has come from such a dark past, Alphonsine has a very bright future. She looks forward to graduating and starting her own business. She is also a bright light for the future of DMI in Rwanda and a model for other Deaf students in her country. But beyond vocation, she has a two-pronged plan for her life, she tells me. The first is to keep dancing. She loves traditional Rwandan dances because they make her feel good. The second is to never stop telling people how much God loves them. Never.
What an extraordinary testimony of love from one who experienced such unlove in her beginning. God is good, and he has done an amazing work in the life of Alphonsine. I look forward to meeting her face to face before too long.
If you would like to know how you can support Alphonsine, any of the kids or teachers, or help meet any of DMI’s needs, please click on the donate button on the top right of the page, or mail to info@deafmin.org
Praise God for yet another precious child redeemed. Thankyou for sharing this story.
Thanks Andrew, you have really described her in a way I can confirm.
Gunnar
Pastor Andrew, thank you for preparing and sending this uplifting story and other DMI blogs on deaf children, teachers, pastors, schools and churches that DMI supports. I will continue to pray for God’s hand of protection on deaf people during these hard times.
Another lovely story from DMI regarding Alphonsine and I look forward meeting her one day. God have graciously blessed you with a beautiful smile and I hope she will do well at university.